This application claims priority under 35 USC 119(a) to patent application No. 2004-76708 filed in Japan on 17 Mar. 2004, the content of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The present invention relates to a particles supply apparatus which supplies particles; more particularly, the present invention pertains to a toner particles supply apparatus capable of being used with toner cartridge(s) or the like supplying developer (toner) to development apparatus(es) in copier(s) and/or other such electrophotographic image forming apparatus(es).
Conventional image forming apparatuses employ finely toner particles as developer, removable toner cartridges being used to supply such toner to internal development apparatuses.
As indicated by the partial enlarged view of FIG. 5, such a toner cartridge might be equipped with a cylindrical toner particles discharge unit 102 arranged horizontally beneath the cartridge main body, not shown, which contains the toner. Toner particles discharge unit 102 is provided with toner particles discharge outlet 103 at the bottom circumferential surface thereof. Furthermore, cylindrical shutter cap 110 is mounted on this toner particles discharge unit 102 so as to cover the outside circumferential surface thereof, this shutter cap 110 being disposed so as to permit sliding axially relative to toner particles discharge unit 102. Moreover, when shutter cap 110 is made to overcome an elastic force from thrust spring 120 which is fitted onto the outside of toner particles discharge unit 102 and is made to slide in one direction X1, causing opening 111 formed in shutter cap 110 to line up with the toner particles discharge outlet 103 and open toner particles discharge outlet 103, toner can be supplied to the interior of a development apparatus, not shown, which is arranged beneath toner particles discharge unit 102 (the state shown at (a) in same FIG.). Note that reference numeral 130 in the drawings is the frame of the development apparatus main body.
With a toner cartridge constructed in such fashion, when there is no longer any toner present within the cartridge main body, the toner cartridge is removed from the development apparatus main body and filled with toner, following which it is again loaded into the development apparatus main body. In such case, to prevent leakage from toner particles discharge outlet 103 of toner remaining within the cartridge main body when the toner cartridge is removed from the development apparatus main body, the restoring force from thrust spring 120 causes shutter cap 110 to slide in the other direction X2 (the state shown at (b) in same FIG.) so as to close toner particles discharge outlet 103 (see, e.g., Japanese Patent Application Publication Kokai No. 2000-98722; hereinafter “Patent Reference No. 1”).
However, with a construction such as that of the aforementioned Patent Reference No. 1 in which shutter cap 110 is made to slide axially in either direction (X1, X2), there has been the problem that it is possible to cause accidental leakage of toner, since toner particles discharge outlet 103 can be easily opened if shutter cap 110 is inadvertently made to slide in either direction while the toner cartridge is removed from the development apparatus main body.
Toner supply apparatuses have therefore been proposed which solve such problems (see, e.g., Japanese Patent Application Publication Kokai No. 2000-162861; hereinafter “Patent Reference No. 2”).
As shown in FIG. 6, such a toner supply apparatus might be constructed such that shutter cap 201 has two directions A, B in which it can slide, sliding in direction B not being permitted until sliding in direction A has first been completed. That is, in terms of sliding direction, the construction is such that this is a two-step process. As a result, since the toner particles discharge outlet cannot easily be opened even when the toner cartridge is removed from the development apparatus main body, it is possible to prevent the problematic situation of accidental leakage of toner.
However, with the aforementioned Patent Reference No. 2, because a two-step mechanism is adopted in which shutter cap 201 slides in two directions A, B, there has been the problem that the structure of the mechanism for causing sliding in those respective directions has been complicated.
Furthermore, with the structure shown in FIG. 5, when the toner cartridge is removed from the development apparatus main body, there has been the problem that toner remaining in the region surrounding opening 111 of shutter cap 110 may fall therefrom and/or sliding of shutter cap 110 may cause toner trapped between the outer circumferential surface of toner particles discharge unit 102 and the inner circumferential surface of shutter cap 110 to fall from opening 111, soiling the surrounding area.
The present invention was conceived in order to solve such problems, it being an object thereof to provide a particles supply apparatus and an image forming apparatus which are such that the particles discharge unit does not easily open even when a force is unexpectedly applied to the shutter cap while the particles supply apparatus, i.e., toner cartridge, is removed from the development apparatus main body, and such that particles does not spill down from the opening in the shutter cap when the particles supply apparatus is removed from the development apparatus main body.